8555-R2_MSA_November2023_Newsletter

From The Executive Board Secretary’s Report - Brad Barker 586 th Directors Meeting - SAM in Augusta, Maine - October 17, 2023

Talked about what we need to do to get more applicants. Increasing the amount from $1000 to $1500. Steering Committee Chairman: John Monk Thursday there is an abandoned roads committee meeting. There are a couple committee’s now. The Steering Committee has been keeping day to day business running and regular Committee meetings will continue. Al is running all over the state. Please, give him a pat on the back when you see him. He’s doing a great job. Hospitality: Gail Ryan - hasn’t sent out any sympathy cards. Shared a joke. Hall of Fame Chair: Aleta Rioux - no report. Mark C.- about the Show. What we really need is help with setup and breakdown. Last couple years we have had maybe a handful of people and we could really use some help. Thanks to Lori and Bob for the Grass Drags weekend. There were a lot of people there and we got a lot done. Our booth looked like a million bucks. We sold roughly 1000 tickets and a lot of apparel. ITS 115 has been moved over to the east side up through Kingfield to Lexington going right to Eustis. They have gas at the Lexington clubhouse, there’s an ATM machine as well. Please look for the email blasts from MSA the will be from contactus@ mainesnowmobileassociation.com please whitelist this address. Northern Region Ride - March 16th in Easton Trailbreakers Clubhouse will do a ride based on their conditions in Mars Hill and Presque Isle and dinner meeting. December meeting is the 12 th is the Super Raffle at the Augusta Civic Center. New Business: Looking for a motion to accept the Dead River Sno Riders from the Forks into MSA. M/S/C Liberty Mutual Rep - will be at the Show on Sunday Big E show in Massachusetts is coming up in November. Pot of Gold - Shirley Bog Trail Busters not present, so forfeited $400. 50/50 - $69 Liz won and donated it back. Dismissed at 7:48 lobbyist. We will be meeting at least monthly to share information, understand options and become informed on what direction the MSA membership wants us to go. Our goal is to understand the best path forward to close the funding gap. We know that there is over a $3 million funding gap from last winters’ reported expenses and program income. (Grants paid out vs. volunteer hours + clubs’ submitted costs’). I know this isn’t close to the full gap because most folks do not include ALL the hours and expenses that go into running their club. We need input from you, the MSA members… the folks who know their club expenses and cur rent income so we can work with our lobbyist to understand what ways forward have the best chance at succeeding, then bring them back to the membership to ensure we work on the right one(s). Once we have ideas from our membership, we will combine them with our own, group the ones that are similar, ensure we understand them & begin to sort them into categories. Look for an email blast to your club as an opportunity to have input on how the MSA should go about increasing funds coming back to clubs for trail maintenance & grooming equipment.

happening at the show. Important dates - Club and Municipal Grants due December 1 st . MONDAY November 13 Directors meeting - Madison Legion Hall, North Anson Club with 6pm dinner. Vendor Forms, Grants, and Trail Signs- make arrangements so you can pick them up at the show. If you haven’t gotten your grant paperwork by now you’d better be calling Joe as they were sent out the second week of August CMP lot on 106 in Leeds and they have enviromats. Free. Need to call Joe. Brad got 30 and they will be moved by a pulp truck. You have to load and move them yourself. Eastern Region Vice-President: Eileen Lafland Clubs are hard at work on the trails fixing water holes and blow downs. Hoping for more volunteers. Praying for freezing cold before it snows. Landowners and raffles are going great. The February 17th directors meeting will be at the East Branch Snow-Rovers Snowmobile Club! Northern Region Vice-President: Matt Stedmen Clubs are out there working on bridges, water holes, blowdowns, and getting that done. Been working on fundraising and membership all summer. Western Region Vice-President: Jerry Major Two or three things, good that some things are settling down. If anyone is looking for mats in Auburn 125 for brand new reject ones and some used ones available. Also poles. Having trouble getting directors. How do you find them? Only have presidents and directors. January 16 th meeting at the fire station in Norway. Liberty Mutual is doing away with their regular snowmobile insurance as of November 1 st . Enviromats are available at CMP lot in Leeds. Call Joe for more information. Central Region Vice-President: Jack Lord - not here Coastal Region Vice-President: Dave Watson - not on Funding Committee: Mat Stedmen - started a a workshop in your area, please reach out to me and we can coordinate a time and place. One important addition to the signage pro gram this year is related to the MSA spon sored legislation—LD732. This new law now gives game wardens authority to cite off trail riders on the spot much like a sheriff might write a speeding ticket. Fines start at $100 and scale up for repeat offenders. This will greatly enhance the ability to deal with problematic off trail situations, but there are some guide lines to be followed. Signs must be posted and local law enforcement must be informed and/ or consulted about the areas posted. Landown ers will no longer be required to press charges but should be informed of any situations being dealt with. There are two new signs (see Pics) related to LD732 that will be available through Joe Higgin’s office. The new signs were not available at the Maine Snowmobile Show, but if you are reading this article, they should be in stock. This will most certainly be a “learn ing” year for this new law, the Game War dens, and riders at large-- but it will address a long-standing problem on our trail system. The weather is turning and hopefully our water woes are subsiding. Rest assured winter is coming! All for now.. Brent

committee on funding last month on grants and how to fund clubs. Start small and will bring in more folks as needed. Discussed the gap of about $3M to be able to fund all the clubs. We are falling short on funding the grants. How do we propose legislation to fill that gap? Looking for ideas from anyone. People in this room. What is your thought on how to do this? To raise funding for snowmobile clubs. Once we get ideas, we’ll go through them and see how we can use them. Check with clubs on how we should proceed. We NEED the input of our membership to show up when we go in front of a committee at the state house. Reach out to regional directors/VP if you have ideas. Safety - Al was not present Membership Report: Eileen Lafland: Liz is working hard to enter them. They are rolling in at a great pace. Next month I will have a breakdown by region. I am starting to help enter some as well. Keep them coming! If you have any questions, membership@mesnow. com and I’ll get back to you. Ron Nunan - Lori - Lexington Snowmobile Club. Applied for the Polaris Trail Grant and got accepted and will be getting $10,000 for our club. There is also a Ski-doo grant and a Yamaha one, too. Application process wasn’t too bad, it’s all done online. Fill in the questionnaire. Sep 1st and May were the deadlines. Once you get it, you have to wait three years before you get it again. No strings attached. You need to spend it and use it. Club has to be a nonprofit. They want to see pictures like on a bridge that they helped. Do good PR work. Trail Committee Chair: Brent Spalding Been quiet but Rangeley has an issue with AFM, so 68 miles are shut off for logging. Have completed work with Skidoo map layer. Trails work class at the show -Saturday at 9. Joe will be in there to talk about the new legislation for off trail riding. The Trail meeting is upstairs. Don’t have off trail signs yet. New MSA logos are available in stickers. They will be for sale at the show. Scholarship Committee: Harvey Chesley was not here but Berry Ryan stepped in. Scholarships are going along pretty good.

C all to order by Mark with the Pledge of Allegiance at 6:38 Secretary’s report M/S/C The treasurer’s report was read and placed on file at the office. President’s opening comments: Al was at his granddaughter’s induction to the National Honor Society. Congratulations!! Executive Vice-President: Mark Chinnock Snowmobile show booths sold out. Good weekend in Epping Super Raffle is going really well and having a ton of requests for more tickets. Sold a LOT at Fryeburg Fair - set records, over $15,000 Park and Ride - working to create a database to put on the website and in the newspaper and next year will go in the Maine Guide. Email Blast to club presidents, there is a link on the website for Officer Update Forms, please include physical addresses for packets to be delivered, works better than a PO Box. Packets go to club presidents or the project director if it is a municipal grant. Also a link to add Park n Ride locations on the website. If you want to include one to help bring people to your town. Need physical address. And a link to the safety class that is Brad Barker, Secretary 207-524-3301 155 Fish Street, Leeds ME 04263 barkerbrad155@gmail.com

Trails Committee Chair Report

Funding Legislation Committee

Matt Stedman 207-557-1921 (call or text) PO Box 621, Ashland ME 04732 Stedman.matt@jdirving.com T he MSA has put together a committee to determine legislation that needs to be brought in front of the 2025 session to better finance our clubs trail maintenance & equipment funding. The committee is made up of the MSA pres ident, vice-president, regional VP’s and our

Brent Spaulding, MSA Trails Chairman 207-944-7762 41 Madison Ave Brewer ME 04412 msatrailchair@gmail.com R ight out of the gate, I want to thank every one that showed up at the trail workshop during the Maine Snowmobile Show. There was a great turnout of dedicated volunteers. The conversation was enlightening and we all learned something that day. THANK YOU!! The signage portion of that event is something that can be brought to a town or Club near you. One major goal of the MSA Trails Com mittee is to educate our family on consistent and safe signage. If you would like to organize

MSA CLUBS: TO ORDER NEEDED ITS & JCT SIGNS Contact Mike Grass Sr., MSA Trails Committee • 252 Condon Rd • Plymouth, ME 04969 207-368-4914 home • 207-745-2745 cell Grasslands252@gmail.com

TO ORDER CLUB TRAIL SIGNAGE Candice Pinkham, DACF/Snowmobile Program 207-287-4957 Office • 207-878-8111 Fax Candice.M.Pinkham@maine.gov

Signs above are deep red in color.

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